With a little over two weeks before our
departure, we convened for a much needed meeting. We were successful in
finalizing our route with the knowledge that it will change to some degree
while we are on the road. We decided to cross the Rockies via the Lolo
Pass (Lewis and Clark in reverse) and then continue south to Yellowstone,
Devil's Tower, Mount Rushmore, and into the Badlands. There appears to
be a magical Route 14 which runs along our desired path
nearly 1000 miles, across the states of South Dakota, Minnesota and
Wisconsin. We’ve been concerned about navigation in areas without cell
service, so we took photographs of the route to store on our phones (see
photos).
We still are not sure how we will cross into Ontario, Canada from
Michigan as bikes aren't allowed on the bridge at Sarnia, but Dave, who is from
Grand Rapids, MI, assured us that a family member could meet us and take us
across in a pick-up with our bikes in the back. We plan to cross into NY
at Niagara Falls then take one of the NY State bike routes (#5) along the Erie Canal, departing from
it in Schenectady to head to Williamstown. Williamstown is the only
location that we have a scheduled stop. On Thursday July 24, we
have third row tickets to see Chris Pine in Fool for Love at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. We’ll be 180 miles from the finish which gives us two days
to get to Boston, dip our front wheels in the Atlantic near Castle Island, and get
ready for our welcome home party at 6 PM Saturday July 26th.
